Just as she is about to set out for home, she pauses, approaches a tall pine-tree with her axe, and there Jack Frost woos and wins her, and she remains, frozen stiff.

The beauty and interest of the poem quite escape in this (necessarily) bald summary.

The same is the case with "Russian Women." The first poem of this is entitled "Princess Trubetzkoy." It begins by narrating how the "Count-father" prepares the covered traveling sledge for the Princess, who is bent upon the long journey to Siberia, to join her husband, one of the "Decembrists," exiled for participation in the tumults of 1825, on the accession to the throne of Nicholas I.He spreads a thick bear-skin rug, puts in down-pillows, hangs up a holy image (_ikona_) in the corner, grieving the while.

After this prologue, the journey of the devoted wife is described; the monotonous way being spent in great part by the noble woman in vision-like memories of her happy childhood, girlhood, and married life.

On arriving at Irkutsk she receives a visit from the governor, an old subordinate of her father, who endeavors by every possible means to deter her from pursuing her journey.